2011 Madison Square Park Eats Festival: A Lot Of Fun!

Welcome back foodies! Yesterday I visited the Madison Square Park Eats Festival and it was very cool. The festival is right in front of the park and not very big but the food that I got was very good. I only got a taste of the festival because I was just there for a snack since I had dinner reservations a little while after (I went to Otto so expect a review on that soon).

I went to one of three stands. The first stand I visited was the P&H Soda Co. This stand sells all natural sodas. The soda was full of flavor and very refreshing.The two sodas I bought was a grapefruit soda and pineapple hibiscus soda. There were other flavors like cream, lime, ginger and a few more.

My second stop was Sigmund Pretzelshop. This stand sold many different flavored pretzels. I just got a salted pretzel. It was just okay to me. It was nothing unique so I wouldn't say it would be my first choice if I go back to the festival. 

 My final stop was at Calexico. I thought this stand was incredible. Calexico serves awesome Mexican food. I ordered a Pollo Verde Taco and a Chipotle Pork Quesadilla. The Pollo Verde Taco was slow cooked chicken in a tangy tomatillo sauce, pickled jalapenos, cotija cheese wrapped in a warm corn tortilla. It was very good but I think the Chipotle Pork Quesadilla was better. The quesadilla was cheddar, monterey jack, pulled pork, and pickled onions inside a flour tortilla and served with a chipotle "crack" sauce on the side. Both dishes were great. Calexico has four locations. Two of them are restaurants and two are food carts. One restaurant is in Redhook, Brooklyn and the other is in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. One of the food carts are in Worth Square which is on 24th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. The other food cart is temporarily closed but is normally located on Wooster and Prince in SoHo, Manhattan. I hope to return to Calexico because their food was amazing. Click here to visit their site to check out their hours and menu's.

If you are in the Madison Square Park area I definitely recommend heading over to the festival. It was a lot of fun and a great way to find some great places to eat. Lot's of cool things are happening in that little area. When I was at the the festival I watched a whole lamb being seasoned and then cooked on a rotisserie. The lamb was being prepared by a stand called Illi. Try to make it down to the Madison Square Park Eats Festival soon because it ends June 3rd. Bon Apetit!

-Mike